‘High Heat' Review: Kinetic Mayhem and Dark Comedy Make for a Satisfying B-Movie Goulash

'High Heat' is a hoot. Though it may sound in synopsis like standard-issue genre fare suitable for quick-serve consumption on digital and streaming platforms, this satisfying mashup of crime thriller and dark comedy plays almost like a wink-and-a-nod sendup of such cookie-cutter time-killers. Indeed, director Zach Golden and scripter James Pedersen go so far as to deliberately emphasize the telltale sign of a budget-cramped indie production -- almost all of the action unfolds in only two settings, a restaurant and a parking garage -- while lacing cliches and conventions with self-aware wit and sass in a briskly paced package. Better still, it appears that everyone on-screen was let in on the joke -- but nobody takes that knowledge as license to break character or even dent the fourth wall. From there, we're dropped into the barely controlled kitchen chaos during opening night at Etoile Rouge, where chief chef and co-owner Ana Abramov (Olga Kurylenko) is issuing commands with all the authority (but slightly less of the abrasiveness) of Gordon Ramsay. Out in front, diners are greeted with a dazzling smile, glad-handing charm, and a hearty 'Bon appetit!' by Ana's husband and partner, Ray, played by Don Johnson in silver-fox mode. This time out, Dom has devised a plot to ensure a quick return on the $1.3 million he loaned Ray to finance Etoile Rouge -- i.e., burning the place down for insurance money. Then again, every husband and wife hide secrets from each other, right? As it turns out, Ana has a rather convenient skeleton in her closet: She is a retired KGB agent trained to inflict grievous bodily harm with everything from automatic weapons to fistfuls of celery stalks. Mick and Don have a vantage point in a parking garage across the street; the more they send underlings to commit arson and worse in the Etoile Rouge, the higher the body count mounts. Dom makes little secret of his profound disappointment in his son -- 'This wasn't supposed to be difficult, Mick! That's why I sent you to take care of it!' -- and must choke back his fury while negotiating overtime rates with the leader of freelance assassins. Even as they ward off repeated assaults on their restaurant, Ana and Ray find time to squabble like a conventional married couple. She: 'No wonder you've been divorced twice!' He: 'That's a little below the belt, don't you think?' Even so, Ray insists that, for all his failings, he will stand by his woman. And their restaurant. 'Sixty-five percent of waitstaff quit during their shift,' he says. 'I'm not going to be one of them.' They bring along their 'Shining'-spooky twin daughters (Bianca D'Ambrosio, Chiara D'Ambrosio) when they venture to the Etoile Rouge to reinforce and/or kill Ana because, the last time they left the girls home alone, they threw an unsupervised party. So let's leave it like this: 'High Heat' is a movie in which practically everyone gets exactly what's coming to them. Well, with the possible exception of someone who makes a churlish remark about the conspicuous age difference between Ana and Ray. That person gets off easy, relatively speaking. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.